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Martin Luther King Famous Speech by Indira Gandhi
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Martin Luther King Famous Speech by Indira Gandhi
New Delhi, India: January 24, 1969
This is a poignant moment for
all of us. We remember vividly your last visit to our country. We had
hoped that on this occasion, Dr. King and you would be standing side by
side on this platform. That was not to be. He is not with us but we feel
his spirit. We admired Dr. King. We felt his loss as our own. The tragedy
rekindled memories of the great martyrs of all time who gave their lives
so that men might live and grow. We thought of the great men in your own
country who fell to the assassin's bullet and of Mahatma Gandhi's
martyrdom here in this city, this very month, twenty-one years ago. Such
events remain as wounds in the human consciousness, reminding us of
battles, yet to be fought and tasks still to be accomplished. We should
not mourn for men of high ideals. Rather we should rejoice that we had the
privilege of having had them with us, to inspire us by their radiant
personalities. So today we are gathered not to offer you grief, but to
salute a man who achieved so much in so short a time. It is befitting,
Madam, that you whom he called the "courage by my side", you who gave him
strength and encouragement in his historic mission, should be with us to
receive this award.
You and your husband both had foreseen that death might come to him
violently. It was perhaps inherent in the situation. Dr. King chose death
for the theme of a sermon, remarking that he would like to be remembered
as a drum major for justice, for peace and for righteousness. When you
were once asked what you would do if your husband were assassinated, you
were courage personified, replying that you might weep but the work would
go on. Your face of sorrow, so beautiful in its dignity coupled with
infinite compassion, will forever be engraved in our hearts.
Mahatma Gandhi also had foreseen his end and had prepared himself for it.
Just as training for violence included learning to kill, the training for
non-violence, he said, included learning how to die. The true badge of the
satyagrahi is to be unafraid.
As if he too had envisaged the martyrdoms of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin
Luther King, Rabindranath Tagore once sang:
In anger we slew him,
With love let us embrace him now,
For in death he lives again amongst us,
The mighty conqueror of death.
This award, Madam, is the highest tribute our nation can bestow on work
for understanding and brotherhood among men. It is named after a man who
himself was a peace-maker and who all his life laboured passionately for
freedom, justice and peace in India and throughout the world. Dr. Martin
Luther King's struggle was for these same values. He paid for his ideals
with his blood, forging a new bond among the brave and the conscientious
of all races and all nations.
Dr. King's dream embraced the poor and the oppressed of all lands. His
work ennobled us. He spoke of the right of man to survive and recognized
three threats to the survival of man--racial injustice, poverty and war.
He realised that even under the lamp of affluence which was held aloft by
science, lay the shadow of poverty, compelling two-thirds of the peoples
of the world to exist in hunger and want. He proclaimed that mankind could
be saved from war only if we cared enough for peace to sacrifice for it.
Dr. Martin Luther King drew his inspiration from Christ, and his method of
action from Mahatma Gandhi. Only through truth can untruth be vanquished.
Only through love can hatred be quenched. This is the path of the Buddha
and of Christ, and in our own times, that of Mahatma Gandhi and of Martin
Luther King.
They believed in the equality of all men. No more false doctrine has been
spread than that of the superiority of one race over another. It is
ironical that there should still be people in this world who judge men not
by their moral worth and intellectual merit but by the pigment of their
skin or other physical characteristics.
Some governments still rest on the theory of racist superiority--such as
the governments of South Africa and the lawless regime in Rhodesia.
Unregenerate groups in other countries consider one colour superior to
another. Our own battle is not yet over. Caste and other prejudices still
survive, but most of us are ashamed of them and recognise them as evils to
be combated. We are trying hard to eradicate them.
While there is bondage anywhere, we ourselves cannot be fully free. While
there is oppression anywhere, we ourselves cannot soar high. Martin Luther
King was convinced that one day the misguided people who believed in
racial superiority would realise the error of their ways. His dream was
that white and black, brown and yellow would live and grow together as
flowers in a garden with their faces turned towards the sun. As you
yourself said, "All of us who believe in what Martin Luther King stood
for, must see to it that his spirit never dies". That spirit can never
die. There may be setbacks in our fight for the equality of all men. There
may be moments of gloom. But victory must and will be ours. Let us not
rest until the equality of all races and religions becomes a living fact.
That is the most effective and lasting tribute that we can pay to Dr.
King.
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Martin Luther King Famous Speech by Indira Gandhi
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